


More or Less the Same

by orphan_account



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-05-09
Packaged: 2017-12-10 21:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Shepard speaks of you." Javik narrows his eyes. "She mostly comments on your skill on the battlefield." There is a smile tugging at the corners of the drell's mouth. "Ironically, she finds you too abrasive, but besides that her regard for you is high."</p>
            </blockquote>





	More or Less the Same

It's a brief touch--less than the transfer on Eden Prime--but it's so much. A constant pressing weight on his chest, the thick taste of _wrongness_ at the back of his mouth, the steady slip and slide of crisp memories tinged with sharp pain and burning hot with passion and happiness, and her face. Her dark skin, her blue sky eyes, and the way her short cropped hair had felt in his hands when she kissed him in the lobby where anyone could see them.

He can smell blood and sweat and steam, taste the fruity tang of her shampoo. She's always so close--he can see freckles, the scar under her left eye, feel the frayed edges where her skin's open and glowing red. He can feel the curve of her smile against his cheek--and, his wife. Holding a son in his arms, radiating pride and joy and this is where he will stand from now to the end. With her eyes warm and stern but her touch soft with forgiveness as she cups her hand over his shoulder, and his son--how can months make up for what he left?

How can he hope for this to even begin to mend what he's broken? Why is there so much to do--now, why did he meet her _now_ \--why hasn't she called, why hasn't she written? She can't be dead. There would be news--why won't she contact him. Someone else. Yes, it's what she deserves--it's what his family had deserved. Someone else--Paper and pencil feel strange in his hands, but he'll try, he'll try, if only he could see her smile once more; see softness in her sunset eyes instead of judgement, distance, why does everything always fade away--

Javik grunts. "Apologies," he says quietly. He closes his eyes, nods--respect, this man who stinks of grief and sickness, Shepard trusted his hand at her back, he saved her many times. "I did not intend... that."

The drell blinks. "I know your name," he says. He places his elbows on his knees, folds his hands beneath his chin. "Shepard speaks of you." Javik narrows his eyes. "She mostly comments on your skill on the battlefield." There is a smile tugging at the corners of the drell's mouth. "Ironically, she finds you too abrasive, but besides that her regard for you is high."

Javik can still taste her. "I did not realize you were bonded to her."

"You expected someone healthy." The drell coughs. "It is understandable. Most believe she is... unattached," he pauses. "You seem honorable. In a way."

"Oh?"

"A mere observation," he waves a hand. "I am merely glad to know there is someone--another, rather, aboard the Normandy who she trusts with her life."

Bitterness. Javik can practically smell it, lingering in the masked scent of sickness and antiseptic. "You cared deeply for her," Javik says. He turns, watches as the drell shifts forward in his seat. "No harm will come to her."

Thane nods--a quiet goodbye and a quiet thank you. Javik steps away; and, it's as if the two had never spoke.

When Javik leaves, he can still feel the press of Shepard's smile against his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> i really wanted javik to meet romanced!thane okay


End file.
